Gettysburg Daily

Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Fred Hawthorne is the author for our 140 Places Every Guide Should Know series. He is on Cemetery Ridge at “Brown’s Gate.” The monument to the 59th New York Infantry Regiment is on the left. This view was taken facing southwest at approximately 5:45 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.

Fred Hawthorne’s interest in the American Civil War stemmed from stories his grandmother related of his soldier-ancestors’ war experiences. Such stories spurred him at an early age to read every book and magazine he could find dealing with the war and his family’s role in it. Hawthorne’s ancestors took up arms on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Fred’s distant cousin, Lieutenant Thomas Huddleston, was the first western Virginia Confederate officer to die in the war – accidentally shot by one of his own men while guarding a bridge in the spring of 1861. Fred’s great grand-uncle Alex Armstrong served as a sharpshooter in Company B of the 100th Pennsylvania Infantry. The 100th took part in most of the campaigns of Ambrose Burnside’s 9th Army Corps. Another great grand-uncle in the same unit had the fingers of his hand shot off in the initial assaults on Petersburg in June of 1864. His great, great-grandfather rode with the 8th Virginia Cavalry and was captured by the Yankees while foraging for horses that same year. The study of that crucial period of American history became a lifelong interest.

Fred served four years as an Intelligence Analyst with the United States Air Force during the later stages of the Vietnam War. Assignment to the National Security Agency in Washington, D.C. for much of this period allowed for many off-duty hours stomping, studying and relic-hunting the old battlefields of northern and central Virginia. Following completion of his service obligation Fred earned a university degree in American History and another in Secondary Education at the Pennsylvania State University. He went on to acquire an advanced degree in Colonial American History and Historical Archaeology. He spent sixteen years teaching history and economics on both university and secondary school levels before making a career change to educational computing in the early 1990’s operating a 400-station computer network for a public school district in south central Pennsylvania.

Following graduation from Penn State Fred settled in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in a house built on ground over which Lee’s troops passed in their final assault on the Union center. The first day he lived in the house was marked with finding a dropped Confederate bullet while planting shrubbery. This location has given the opportunity of spending countless hours walking the more than twenty-five square miles of that historic site.

In 1981 Fred took the battlefield guide qualifying exam administered by the National Park Service earning a federal license to serve as a Licensed Battlefield Guide. For the past twenty-nine years he has conducted more than 50,000 visitors around the battlefields of Gettysburg and other sites of that war. These visitors came from all fifty states and over forty foreign countries. For thirteen of those years Fred served as president of the Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides, Inc. – the oldest professional guide service in the United States dating back to 1915. He still holds several executive positions with that organization.

He is also the author of the book, Gettysburg: Stories of Men and Monuments As Told By Battlefield Guides.

In our first 140 Places Every Guide Should Know post Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Fred Hawthorne introduced the series and showed us the Gettysburg Legislation Plaque/Marker, and the locations where three African American families lived on the battlefield at the time of the Gettysburg Campaign.

In our today’s 140 Places Every Guide Should Know post Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Fred Hawthorne shows us Brown’s Gate, the Gibbon Tree, and the first Confederate flag depicted on a Gettysburg monument.

This map shows us the locations taken of the videos for the 140 Places Every Guide Should Know series. Videos #1 and #4 were taken at the John Page Nicholson marker. Video #2 was taken at the Gettysburg National Military Park Legislation Plaque/Marker. Video #3 was taken on the Abraham Bryan Farm. Video #5 was taken at the location of Meade Avenue. Video #6 was taken at the Stockton Rock. Video #7 was taken at Brown’s Gate. Video #8 was taken at the Gibbon Tree. Video #9 was taken at the monument to Cowan’s New York Battery. This map was created facing north at approximately 7:15 PM on Friday, October 29, 2010.

Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Fred Hawthorne is standing on Cemetery Ridge, southwest of the Copse of Trees, which is in the background. He is pointing to the northern end of the position of “Brown’s Gate.” This view was taken facing northeast at approximately 5:45 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.

In Video #7 (Videos #1-#6 were shown in our previous 140 Places posts) Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Fred Hawthorne is standing on Cemetery Ridge, south of the Copse of Trees. He shows us what is probably the position of Brown’s Gate. This view was taken facing southwest to northeast at approximately 5:45 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.

Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Fred Hawthorne is standing on Cemetery Ridge and is showing you the south end of “Brown’s Gate.” The monument on left is to the 59th New York Infantry Regiment. The tall monument on the far right is to the U.S. Regulars. This view was taken facing southeast at approximately 5:45 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.

Brown’s Gate is named for Lieutenant T. Fred Brown, who commanded Battery B, 1st Rhode Island Artillery at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. He was wounded while attempting to withdraw his guns from their exposed position in Codori Field and through “a narrow gap in a stone wall.” Brown later commanded the battery as a Captain. This image is from The History of Battery B, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, In The War to Preserve the Union, 1861-1865.

Licensed Battlefield Guide Fred Hawthorne is standing on Cemetery Ridge under the Gibbon Tree. This view was taken facing east at approximately 5:45 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.

In Video #8 Licensed Battlefield Guide Fred Hawthorne shows us the Gibbon Tree on Cemetery Ridge. This view was taken facing east at approximately 5:45 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.

Fred Hawthorne is standing on Cemetery Ridge by the monument to Cowan’s First New York Battery. Hancock Avenue is the road in the background. The monument with the Native American and the tepee is to the 42nd New York Infantry Regiment, the “Tammany Regiment.” This view was taken facing southeast at approximately 5:45 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.

In Video #9 Fred Hawthorne is standing by the monument to Cowan’s First New York Battery. He shows us the first Confederate flag depicted on a monument at Gettysburg. This view was taken facing southeast at approximately 5:45 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.

The bas relief on Cowan’s monument. The Confederate flag is on the right. This view was taken facing south at approximately 5:45 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.

The monument was dedicated in 1887, and the flag is still on the right… This view was taken facing south at approximately 5:45 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.

…right here. This view was taken facing south at approximately 5:45 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.

140 Places Every Guide Should Know

The following list, certainly not a difinitive one, was compiled by several Guides during long rides back and forth to grad school. It is in no way the “official policy” of the N.P.S. or the A.L.B.G., nor is it necessarily all knowledge expected of prospective new Guides. It is felt that in addition to a good, overall knowledge of the battle, a firm knowledge of the various features and sites related to the area and its pre and post battle history is necessary information for a newly-licensed Guide to begin to acquire.

As of now, there are 145 places/facts on the list, and they are not in any particular order.

Fred Hawthorne is the author of the book, Gettysburg: Stories of Men and Monuments As Told By Battlefield Guides. It was published by the Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides in 1988, and is available in many Gettysburg area bookstores. This image was scanned facing south at approximately 9:00 PM on Friday, September 17, 2010.